Oregon Caves National Monument

I'm sitting at a hike-in campsite on the Pacific Coast somewhere in the patchwork of parks comprising the Redwood National and State Parks in California. I'm not on the beach but I can hear the waves roll in down at the bottom of the bluff, Heaven forbid I break the rules and actually sleep on the beach. I'm actually a bit paranoid I'll have a ticket on my car in the morning; I don't think I'm allowed to park overnight where I picked up the trail. Sometimes I wish I could turn off the hyper-conservative, risk-averse part of my brain. Oh well, that's me.

Around the corner is a nice family who seem to be something between hippies and gun-toting survivalists. They have a young child of unknown sex digging in the dirt in a pair of briefs. Other than that it is just me and the waves. No stars tonight...I think there might be a semi-permanent cloud bank in this part of the world.

I actually haven't been in the area long enough to scout out the beach. On a whim I went to Oregon Caves National Monument and spent the bulk of the day there. I ended up pitching my tent here in the last bit of dusk.

I'm so glad I went to Oregon Caves. The cave was cave-tastic, made even better by the enthusiastic tour guide and the rugrats in our group who were absolutely delighted. The kids would would see all sorts animals and faces in rock formations that just looked like, well, rock formations to us adults. I love kids...other people's kids.

The pleasant surprise for OCNM, though, was the hillside trails through old-growth forest. Everything was damp and green and alive. The place was crawling with big snails; apparently they thrive in mineral rich areas like the park where they can soak up the raw materials to construct their shell. It makes sense in retrospect. The main attraction was the huge, mist-shrouded trees. The effect was as strong for me as Crater Lake but without the advance expectation.

Alright class, who can tell me the difference between a National Park and a National Monument? I thought it was a matter of size, but this is wrong. A National Park is created by an act of Congress, while a National Monument is created by the President. Perhaps if President Bush can take a break from suspending habeas corpus, pardoning political cronies and tearing up portions of the constitution he finds inconvenient, he can create more of these wonderful places. OCNM was created by President Taft.


The next morning...err afternoon.

I've been sitting in a cafe for several hours today waiting for pictures to upload. Apparently they don't have a cable modem. Anyway it is nice to sit for a bit. The OCNM pics will have to wait and by then I should have some Redwood N&SP pics as well.

Camping has turned me into a bit of a morning person. Today I had a nice beach walk, broke camp and hauled the stuff back to my car all before 9am. I'm not even cranky.